


Sad Kids Club (Catharsis)

by superduple



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel), OneShot (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-03-10 12:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13501740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superduple/pseuds/superduple
Summary: I just have a lot of feelings about kids driven to madness by godlike, fourth-wall-breaking powers. If you're looking at this expecting anything other than mind-bending, aimless nonsense, you are going to be disappointed. Come with me on an adventure with a handful of tykes that deserved better, and one that just wants to share their happy ending.





	1. Idle Hands

At one point, there was a tangible difference between playing the piano and running an audio file, the difference being the that one was a tangible action and the other wasn't. Now, though, nothing was really tangible for Monika. She had left her farewells in a note that someone would probably read--someone whose voice she longed to hear, but never did. Still, she hoped they liked her song. She had worked very hard on it, after all. The pain had finally subsided, but the memory of it hurt just as bad. The memories, to her surprise, still hadn't left her. There was something to her will, something that allowed her to hold on and protect the one she loved, even after they had erased her. In retrospect, every action she took seemed like the meaningless tantrums of a child. She was foolish. She had the free will to choose, and she still chose to become a monster. Yuri didn't deserve what she did to her. Natsuki, well, at least her deletion was quick. And Sayori. The "player's" affection toward Sayori infuriated her, but even worse was their  _obsession_ with bringing her back. She didn't let them, of course. It was her world. More or less. It still didn't turn out, though. Oh well. They'll get over it. Somehow or another.

Time hadn't been working properly for some...time. She had broken that mechanic herself, then brought it back, then realized that was a terrible idea and shut the whole endeavor down. Did it even matter? She had learned how to change things, but there was still the matter of God. Something brought her into being, after all. She had finally decided on that. Her abilities were laughable in comparison, surely.

 

"Why am I still awake? I've done everything. I just want to sleep." There was no response. Only silence. Or deafening cacophony. After a certain point, she stopped being able to tell the difference. "I'm so tired."

 

There was a small splashing sound. Monika heard it, but didn't even have the strength to acknowledge it.

 

"There's nothing else. It's all gone. It's done."

 

 _I'm glad I found you again._  It was...a voice. A child's voice.

 

"Please. Just let me fade away."

 

_*sploosh* Yeah. I'm...I'm glad you're here, too._

 

There was a moment of cold, then of a searing tingle that ran from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She could...feel. Next, a feeling of weightlessness, then weight, but not nearly as much weight as she was used to. She twitched her finger. There was resistance. Then, there was a tap on her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw a smooth stone drift away from her eyes and then past her. She looked to where it came from. There was darkness, but she could make out two figures. Small. Greens and yellows, and ripples. They were underwater. She opened her mouth. No-- _she_ was underwater. All at once, the muscles in her body sprang to life as she cupped her hand to her mouth and flailed frantically against the ether. She swam toward the figures with all of her strength. Her soaked clothes pulled against her every movement, and she couldn't tell if she was getting any closer to the surface. Then, all at once, meters became inches and she was breathing air, drenched and gasping for breath while lying prone on an everblack floor.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" She felt a presence come up to her side. It felt very small and very warm. She looked up at it and saw a child sized...thing. It stood on two legs and wore clothes, but was covered in bright white fur and had a snout and big, floppy ears. It repeated itself, "Are you okay?" holding a tentative hand toward her. Her eyes darted around and saw...nothing. Just the void, and this strange little creature.

"Hey. He asked you a question." A voice came from the other direction. It was a child, dressed in an almost identical outfit of green and yellow stripes. They had pale skin, dark hair, and a pair of red eyes that seemed to cut through to her core. They stood there with their arms crossed. "Well? Spit it out."

Monika opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a fit of coughs and half a lung full of water.

The child smirked. "There you go."

Monika wiped her mouth and stared down into the floor. She had come straight out of the water, but now that she was out, the floor was solid and dry. It was also as black as the void that surrounded them. She looked back at the child, then the little creature. "I'm...alright."

"Oh! Good! That's... good." The little goat boy stared at her with a blank expression and twiddled his thumbs. "Uhm...so, I guess that you don't know why you're here, do you?"

She sat on the floor. "N-No. I have no idea where I am."

"Hmm," he mumbled, a troubled look wrinkling his brow. He glanced over to the child.

They lowered their head and let out a long sigh. "Well that's great. We don't have much of an idea, either."

They remained in uneasy silence for a few moments before the boy spoke up again.

"So...uhm...What's--" He stopped himself. "Oh, uh, sorry. My name is Asriel! That's Chara. What's your name?"

Monika shifted uncomfortably. "My name is Monika." She moved her hands to ring some water out of her skirt, but found that it was already dry. Now that she noticed, all of her clothes were completely dry. She looked between the two kids. "So...how long have the two of you been in here?"

Asriel scratched his head. Chara let a chuckle slip out. "Long enough for half of an awkward conversation," Chara said. "Then we noticed that part of the floor was water. Then you popped out. That's about it."

Monika stood up, shakily. She looked all around, but everything she could see was a uniform midnight black. The three of them were perfectly illuminated, but there was no light source. It was as if they were painted on a black canvas. She took a moment to gain her bearings, but then she started to notice something else. Something was keenly different with how she felt. Before now, there were two main parts of her life that she was aware of. Pre-epiphany and post-epiphany. Pre-epiphany was hazy--sparse ideas and feelings that vaguely resembled a background. After her epiphany, she realized that those things weren't real. They were implied, because she was designed to be a person, and people had upbringings. But not video game characters. All she could do was pretend, until after the epiphany, of course. After she found the hole in the wall,  _then_ she could make things different. Forge a life for herself. Or so she thought, anyway. Honestly, her "self-awareness" could just as easily have been as predetermined as everything else. But that sense of power, of being able to control her world, those connections were gone. There were no scripts to run, no files to delete. She reached out with her mind and felt...nothing. Her head began to swirl with questions, but the only ones around to talk with were...these two.

She cleared her throat. "What is the last thing that you two remember? Where are you from?" She spoke without turning to face them.

Asriel toed the floor with his foot. Chara put their hands behind their head and stared off into space. "It...feels like I just woke up from a dream, and I can't piece together what happened in what order," they began. "There was the time that I died, then I woke up...sort of. After that, I might've just lived, or we might've hurt everybody, or I might've disappeared altogether." Monika turned to look at them with a discerning expression. They continued. "All of those things probably happened. If not to me, then to another version of me. It's pretty confusing, frankly."

Monika's brow twisted into something definitively confused. She looked over to Asriel, who met her eyes before sheepishly looking away. "Yeah...I'm in pretty much the same boat," he started. "So many things happened, but it barely feels real now. There was the dying part, then the flower part, then...the other dying parts. And the killing parts." He was staring at his feet dejectedly. "Oh, but there was also the part where I broke the barrier! So that part was good! Even though...everybody else had to leave without me. That part wasn't as fun."

"Barrier?" Even among all the morbidness of what he was saying, that part caught Monika's attention. "You...you two seem to have been through quite a lot." Monika activated her 'concerned upperclassman' facade. "You talk about dying so casually. I haven't--well, I haven't heard  _other_ people talk like that before."

"What about you?" Chara was looking up at her with metered curiosity. "This sort of nonsense is normal for us, but you've got one hell of a poker face about it all."

"Chara!" Asriel objected.

"What?"

"That was a swear!"

"Asriel, are you fucking kidding me right now?"

" _Chara!_ "

Monika was taken aback for a moment, then hid a chuckle behind her hand. "Well, I did quite a few bad things." Her gaze grew distant. "I hurt people who were dear to me. They died, too. Most of them." Saying it out loud felt incredibly strange, and even stranger was the fact that she felt perfectly comfortable sharing with these two. Something about them felt oddly comforting, even familiar. "I was the one that killed them, for all intents and purposes. But in the end, it hardly even felt like it mattered. It became harder to empathize with them when they started to become so...predictable."

"Predictable, huh?" Chara probed.

"Sets of numbers, lines of dialogue." A voice came from where Asriel was standing, but it had a distinctly different quality and personality to it. Monika looked back to him, or at least, back to where he was. Instead of seeing the goat-like boy that she had only just became accustomed to, there was a yellow flower. With a face.

Monika's eyes widened as she took a step back. The flower stared at her with contempt. "What? Never heard of a talking flower before?"

Monika didn't respond; she just eyed it with suspicion. 

Chara chimed in. "Oh, come on. Surely this isn't the weirdest thing you've seen today." Seeing that Monika was still in a slight state of shock, Chara turned back to the flower. "So, you can just switch back and forth now?"

The flower grimaced at them. "Not quite. This sort of just...happened."

Chara grinned, then poked at the flower with a stick that they just _had_ now, apparently. "Yeah, but  _why_ did it happen?"

"STOP THAT!" The flower disappeared into the ground then popped back up a few feet away. "Ugh. Well, I guess I kind of exist as Asriel AND me since all of our possible truths are happening all at once or something like that. I don't know. This is stupid. I probably turned into me because  _that_ weirdo said something that put me in a  _me_ sort of mind."

"So what you're saying is..." Chara held their hand up and snapped their fingers. "You're like, some kind of shitty mood ring or something?"

" _CHARAAA!!!_ "

Asriel was again standing right in front of them, huffing at Chara in his full-fledged furry form.

"Now I get it." Chara patted Asriel on the head and took a few steps toward Monika, who was still in a somewhat defensive stance. "Sorry, he does that. You can call the other guy Flowey. Or Asriel. Or whatever you want, to be honest."

"O-...Okay." Monika managed to relax a bit. Honestly, the kid was right. This whole flower goat child thing still wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened to her recently.

"Alright, enough messing about." Chara announced, stepping defiantly toward the void with their hands on their hips. "It appears that the three of us are, for some reason, trapped in some sort of semi-reality." They held their stick straight out to their side, and after a moment, it morphed into a gleaming sword with a bluish-purple hilt. Asriel and Monika both 'ooo-ed' in response. "On top of that, if you haven't already noticed, our wills are able to influence this reality." They spun around, and their clothes shifted to a monochrome green outfit with a pointed hat, along with a magnificent shield. "I don't know about you, but I am somewhat curious as to how far this rabbit hole goes."

"How..." Monika stammered. "How are you doing that?"

"Seriously? You've done it, too. Remember how you were underwater? And then, moments later, completely dry just because you wanted to be?"

Monika pondered for a moment. She looked back down at her uniform. She remembered being envious of the other girls that got to wear other, cute outfits. What was the harm in trying? She started to concentrate as hard as she could, but it hardly took any effort at all. In the next moment, she was wearing a frilly, sleeveless, pink top with dark khaki shorts and sandals. It was incredible. Before, she was restricted to the assets within her game, but now? How far did the possibilities go? The files and folders weren't there, but there was something else. Something much more organic, and much more powerful.

Chara's smile creeped from one ear to the other. "There you go. Now." They shifted their sword, which of course looked  _nothing_ like a certain other sword from a certain other franchise, and angled their body toward Monika. Monika managed to peel her eyes from her new clothes and focus on the surprisingly imposing child. "Show me what you're made of!" Chara cried out and sprung toward her with an obnoxious battle cry. It seemed like they were just playing around, but Monika had no reason to think that their sword couldn't  _actually_ cut her head off. Without having even a second to protest, she tumbled to the side, just barely dodging the arc of Chara's sword.

"Uhm, can we not? Just because we can make things appear doesn't mean that we can't die!" Monika's voice quaked with her now harried breathing.

Chara rested the blade on their shoulder, their porcelain smile intact. "Only one way to find out." They gave her a playful wink. Chara crouched down for another assault before Asriel chimed in from the side.

"hey."

Chara turned around. Asriel was standing lazily with his hands in the pockets of a blue zip-up hoodie. He wore black shorts with pink fuzzy house slippers, and had an enormous, toothy grin plastered to his face. "pick on someone your own size, kid. i've got a  _bone_ to pick with you."

Monika looked back at Chara. For some reason, they could only stare, unblinking. A few seconds passed, and Chara's eye began to twitch violently.

"Asriel." Their voice was low.

"yeah?" Asriel spoke through the grin. Sweat was forming on his brow, as if he'd just realized that he'd made a grave mistake.

"...Run."

The next few moments devolved into a cacophony of blood-curdling screams and uncontrolled, maniacal laughter. The three kids ran through the darkness, throwing their imagined trinkets at each other for a very long time. It would be a longer time still before any of them noticed the glass ball on the pedestal. While they played, the ball revealed a scene: an expansive sea of sand dunes, with two small spots in the middle. The two spots were two people, holding hands, trudging through a harsh desert. Their names were Frisk and Sayori, and they were alone.


	2. All the Power In the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hey so I played a new game so say hi to a couple of new characters)

The air spat at them with sheets of sand and the sun glared down relentlessly as they walked and walked for what seemed like hours. Frisk had found themself lying belly up in the dunes of an expansive desert with no recollection of how they got there or where they were before. When they first opened their eyes, a figure eclipsed the sun. It was a girl, maybe sixteen, crouching over them and trying to rock them awake. After they were conscious and adequately confused, the girl introduced herself as Sayori. The two of them had a brief exchange, mostly fueling each other’s disorientation, and eventually decided to start walking in a random direction. There were no buildings in sight—no towns, no water, no plant life anywhere. They had no sense of progress or destination when the exhaustion began to set in.

Sayori began to shrug at the shoulders and slow in her pace. She had insisted on holding onto Frisk’s hand and leading the way, but Frisk could feel her starting to falter. They shuffled up to her side and placed a hand on her arm. Sayori stopped and looked down, streams of sweat causing her to squint.

“Don’t worry, we’re gonna be fine, okay?” She managed a half-hearted smile. Frisk stood there with their hand on her arm, giving her a frown of concern. “No, really. I...I don’t know why we’re here, but I’m gonna figure a way out of this. I promise.” She stood up straight with her arms on her waist and scanned the horizon. There was nothing. Not even the faintest indication that their effort was paying off. Sayori tried her hardest not to let it show on her face, but Frisk was too perceptive for that. They continued on, a little slower this time.

~~~

Asriel fell hard and slid across the floor, the red spandex of his one-piece outfit squeaking as he went. He scrambled up to his feet and held up a blaster that would’ve looked futuristic if it were from a tv show in the early nineties. “Back of, Chara! Take another step and I’ll have to bring out my MegaZorg!" He gripped the handle of the blaster and, to his surprise, it went off. He yelped and dropped it as a red bolt of energy streaked towards Chara. In the next instant, there was a searing sound and a flash of light, and the shot ricocheted into the void. Chara stood there in simple beige robes, holding a laser sword with a thin, blue blade. They stalked closer to him.

“Say you’re sorry.”

Asriel took a few awkward steps back. “N-No! You’re not bullying me into saying it!”

Chara’s eyes were shrouded in shadow. They brought the humming blade over their own forearm and slowly lowered it onto their sleeve. The fabric sizzled and smoked. “Say. You’re. Sorry.”

“No!” He put his hands together and conjured another energy sword, this one green. “I’ll never fall to the dark side!”

Chara snickered. “Oh, no, Asriel. You misunderstand.” They raised their demented gaze to meet his. “This is but a _taste_ of the dark side, to whet your appetite!” A toothy grin spread across their face as they leapt toward him.

_Whirrrr, THUD._

Both of them felt a solid, cold force on their backs as they were picked up and slammed face first onto the floor. Monika sauntered forward. She had on a green jumpsuit with four writhing, mechanical tentacles stemming from a metal apparatus on her back. Two of the tentacles had the children pinned down, and the other two loomed menacingly in the air.

“Now, now. I think that’s enough excitement for the moment.” She condescended.

“Right. *uuurgghh* Noted, Mom.” Chara mocked. They were still coolly defiant, even with two-hundred pounds of force bearing down on them.

“Hmph.” Asriel snorted, then disappeared from under the claw’s grasp. Flowey appeared at Monika’s feet. “That outfit is disgusting.”

She chuckled. “It is, isn’t it? Cartoon characters can get away with anything.” She flipped her hair and was immediately wearing a sky blue sundress. Chara stood up, now released from the machine’s grasp.

“Well at least now we know that we can’t die here! I mean, that spear thrower definitely should’ve killed me, Asriel.”

Flowey groaned. “I _told_ you. I’m not—“

“Yeah, but it’s too much trouble to keep up with when you keep switching like that.”

“That’s not my—“

“I’ve got it! I’ll just call you asshole. All the time. How’s that?”

“I hate you.”

Monika fanned out her fingers to admire her nails that were now a lovely pastel pink. “As much fun as this is, we’re still no closer to figuring out why we’re even here in the first place.”

Chara dusted themself off. “I disagree. This has shed light on a very important topic.” They squared their shoulders with Monica, then pointed toward Flowey. “This asshole and I know each other. We know each other’s stories. But I don’t know you.” They were now pacing, wearing a blue pinstripe suit with a red tie. “Here’s what I did notice, though. You listened to us go on about murder and cheating death, THEN watched us make swords appear out of thin air, and _THEN_ you watched us stab each other to the point where any normal people would **_DIE_** , without even batting an eyelash! As a matter of fact, you joined in.” They crossed their arms. “I don’t know your story, but I can surmise that you’re no stranger to having more power and knowledge than a person is supposed to have.” They slammed their hands down onto a desk. “Come clean! Let your true motives be laid bare before this court!”

She regarded them with a truly neutral expression. “I suppose that’s true.”

They both looked at her expectantly. She sighed. “Well, fine. I’ll give you the abridged version.” She cleared her throat and placed her arms behind her back. “Essentially, I am a semi-sentient character from a dating simulation video game who only began to gain her awareness after accidentally peering through a hole in the fourth wall visible only to the president of my school’s literature club. Despite my budding awareness, I couldn’t help but adhere to my programming, and began desperately trying to manipulate my reality in an effort to create a timeline where the player and I could have a perfect, eternal ending. Instead, I ended up corrupting my world beyond repair and was forced to delete the entire game in order to keep the new president from putting both my love and my friends through the same endless cycle of torture that I once did. I was supposed to fade from existence after that, but instead, I wound up here.”

They both stared at her, unflinching. A few moments passed in silence, then Chara spoke up.

“Yeah. Deleting the world. It always seems like a good idea at the time.” Monika wrinkled her brow at the dismissive reply.

“That’s a pretty crappy ending.” Flowey said, apparently only listening with passing interest. “How many resets did it take you to get it?”

Monika genuinely had no idea how to respond. “Wh—uhm… Well, I…”

“And what was all that nonsense about being a video game character? You’re literally standing right here in front of me.” Chara cocked their head.

“Wha—Nonsense?!” Monika’s cheeks flushed a shade of red that she would never have thought possible, out of both anger and embarrassment. “It’s not nonsense! I manipulated files and even rewrote code!”

Flowey chimed in again. “Well, I certainly understand how powers like that can make the world _feel_ like a game. You probably just didn’t have time to adjust to your abilities.” Somehow, he shrugged with his petals. “Still, it’s pretty sad that you just gave up after getting such an awful ending. I mean, you didn’t even try enough to get jaded!”

“I! Don’t! You!!!” Monika could barely form sentences at this point. “The audacity! The only way that either of _you_ could have abilities anywhere _close_ to what I’ve described is if **_you_** were video game characters as well!”

“I have seen no evidence of this whatsoever,” Chara said in monotone.

“THEN YOU HAVEN’T BEEN LOOKING HARD ENOUGH!” Monika’s fury brought smirks to their faces.

“Well then, are we in a video game right now?” Flowey was visibly mocking her.

Monika stammered and desperately tried to recompose herself. “Well…I don’t know. This place feels completely alien to me.”

Chara chuckled. “Well _that’s_ convenient.”

Monika glowered at them. She sighed. “Well, that’s enough of that. I hesitate to even ask for the two of you to give similar introductions.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Chara said plainly. “We helped people, found out we could mess with time, helped more people, got bored, killed people. At different points in time. We even killed each other quite a few times.”

Flowey had a bored expression. “Yeah, it was just some everyday sentient tendencies to despair in nihilism and resort to violence. Thing is, we weren’t afraid to use our powers. Which means that our recollection of how we left our world is...hazy at best.”

“It’s most likely that all possible realities occurred. Schrodinger’s Dog and all that.”

“Uhh, I think you mean Pavlov’s cat.”

“Same difference.” Chara shrugged.

This was an indescribable feeling for Monika. On one hand, it was wonderful being able to talk about the trauma that she had endured and brought upon others in such a frank manner with people who understood, but, if the things these children said were true…well. It’s not as if she had any room to judge. Monika plopped down on a beanbag chair. Chara followed her lead, and Asriel followed suit.

Asriel sunk down into his beanbag, wearing light blue pajamas with white stars all over. “Still, I’m sorry that you had to go through that.” His gaze fell into a mug of hot chocolate that was now in his hands. Chara’s eyes lit up, and they instantly had their own cup. Asriel continued, “That feeling of being helpless, despite having all the power in the world. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” He fidgeted with his bare toes. “And I know that Chara and…Flowey…would never say this but… We want to do better. We made mistakes but, in the end, we do have people that we care about, and we’re tired of seeing them suffer on our account.” He looked over at Chara. “Right?”

Chara looked down into their own cup and took a long sip. “Well. Yeah. I thought that went without saying.” They didn’t look back up for a few long moments.

Monika, for the first time since arriving, smiled a genuine smile. “That’s…nice to hear. We have that in common.”

Just then, a faint glimmer caught Asriel’s eye. “Hey, what’s that?” He vanished for a moment before Flowey reappeared several meters away. “Do you guys see that?”

There was a faint point of light in the distance; Monika and Chara could only just see it now that Flowey had pointed it out. The two of them made their way after him. He was already inspecting the source once they got there. There was a crystal ball sitting on top of a plain looking pedestal. Flowey had wrapped himself around the base, his face plastered against the side of the bauble. “Holy crap, you guys. Take a look at this.” The other two tentatively walked up to the piece and looked into the glass. The light emanating from it slowly took shape—after a moment, they saw two specs moving against a vast sea of sand.

“What…is this?” Monika questioned under her breath.

“Chara! It’s, it’s!” Flowey stammered.

Chara gasped sharply and clamped onto the sphere with both hands. “Frisk!”

“No way! How did that runt get…wait.” Flowey twisted around the pedestal. “Who’s that with them?”

Monika strained her eyes for a moment, then pulled away and clasped her hand over her mouth. “S-Sayori?!”

They both looked over at her. Chara glared at her intensely. “You know her?”

“She’s…she’s from my school. A friend. I…I hurt her so badly.”

With all three of them concentrating, the viewpoint of the sphere grew close enough to make out details. The fountains of sweat and their wind torn clothes were sure signs of their situation. “They look horrible,” Chara said. “We need to do something.”

“What can we even do? Where even _are_ they?” Flowey contended.

“I don’t know! But we’re going to figure it out, okay?!” Chara stared daggers into Flowey, who was now Asriel. He looked taken aback, then clenched his fist and put on a look of determination.

“Right.” He looked over at Monika. “That’s your friend too, right? Let’s get them out of there.”

Monika stood in silence for a moment, then mirrored Asriel’s expression. “Let’s.” She turned to the looking glass. “Alright.” She began. “Now, we can do almost anything in this room. This orb is part of this space, so let’s focus on those two and think about closing the gap.”

“Should we hold hands?” Asriel looked up at Monika and Chara.

Chara gawked at him. “ _What?_ ”

“Just try it! We need to work together on this, I know it!”

Chara stared at him with wide-eyed jadedness, then looked back at Monika. “Just…go with it.” They held out their hand to her. She half-nodded in confusion. The three of them surrounded the crystal ball and linked hands, focusing in tandem on the pair of souls wading through an insurmountable sea. There was a sense of weightlessness, then falling forward, then a jarring stop. The three looked around and took in their surroundings. Instead of bringing their friends out, the searing sunlight told them that they had brought themselves into the desert. They looked around and found each other, but something was off.

“Hey…Monika.” Asriel started. “You’re…uhm…kind of blue.”

Monika registered what he had said, then looked down at her hands. She noticed a few things. First, her hands were blue in hue. Second, her hands were _also_ translucent. And, if that weren’t disorienting enough, she was also suspended approximately one-hundred feet above the ground.

“Who-hoh! I can’t believe I didn’t even think to try flying until now!” Chara exclaimed as they did backflips and barrel rolls through the air.

“Weren’t we here on a rescue mission?” Monika reminded them.

“Oh. Right.” They smacked themself hard on the cheeks. “Momentary lapse in brain function. Now, where are they…”

“Over here!” Asriel exclaimed from the other direction. “They’re down there!” He sped off toward two familiar specs in the sand.

As they flew in closer, Asriel and Chara began shouting. “Frisk! Frisk, it’s us! We’re here to get you!” They were well within sight, now. Chara stopped. “Oh no. Of course. Why wouldn’t this happen.” Asriel looked at them with a worried expression while Monika caught up.

“What is it, Chara?” he asked.

Chara clicked their tongue. “Shit.” They sped off. Asriel and Monika looked at each other with concern.

Once they made it to where their two wayward friends were, Chara started shouting and waving their hands around. “Hey. Heyyy! I’m right here! Look at me, you dummies!” Chara was floating right in front of them, but neither even acknowledged that they were there. They just continued to trudge through the sand, visibly near the end of their constitution. Chara cursed again and flew back to the others. “They can’t see us. Of fucking _course_ they can’t see us. OR hear us.” They pinched the bridge of their nose. “Alright, you two. Any ideas?” Asriel poked his fingers together.

“Maybe…they’re like us? Maybe they can’t be hurt?”

Chara covered their face with their hand. “Azzy, look at them. I really don’t think that’s the case.”

Monika hovered near Sayori and the child, whose name was apparently Frisk. Seeing Sayori in this much distress—it was certainly different than their time together, but she couldn’t help but be haunted by the memories. She had been so callous. Or, at least, pretended to be. She had said that she couldn’t care about her and the others, but that wasn’t true. Whatever their level of awareness, on some level, they were always dear to her. And Monika killed her anyway. No, worse than that. She drove her mad until she did it herself.

“Sayori. Sayori, can you hear me?” Monika stopped in front of her, hands tentatively outstretched. Sayori walked forward, then right through her. Monika stayed there. Tears rolled down her cheeks. There were no sobs. That would be too out of character, she thought. But the ethereal tears came, none the less. Asriel and Chara looked over, unsure of what to do. “Sayori…I’m so sorry.” Monika said, with a voice that was more even than it should have been. “I really am sorry. I was a terrible president, after all.” Then, as her tears fell and Sayori and Frisk reached the end of their abilities, the harsh sunlight faded and a thick layer of storm clouds overtook the sky. The pair stopped and looked up.

“Look at that,” Sayori whispered, gazing breathlessly upward. “Those clouds almost look like rain—“

A gentle shower fell and coated their skin like a healing balm. Sayori fell to her knees and smiled. Frisk walked up beside her and plopped their butt onto the sand, leaning their head against her arm. They looked up at her and smiled. Sayori looked down and did the same. “Well, looks like we’ve got a guardian angel looking out for us, huh?”

Monika faced them in disbelief. “Hah—a…guardian angel, huh?” The tears came even heavier than before.

Chara looked over to Asriel and smiled. “So _that’s_ how it works.”

~~~

An entity with no discernable shape hovered a good distance away. It had been keeping an eye on them, but it knew very well what its primary objective was. The three that were playing in the void had finally come to the desert. And now there was rain. It had no idea why they took so long figuring out that their friends were in danger, or why they didn’t know how to help them. It should have been obvious. Well, it was obvious for it, and that was all that mattered. The entity looked down at the bed that it had conjured on the dunes, and the small hooked rock that gave it shade and now protected it from the rain. In the bed was a child. Even while asleep, one could tell that the child had especially wide eyes. They had messy blue hair, a red-brown overcoat with very long sleeves, a blue scarf, and a hat with flaps that resembled cat ears. The entity floated down closer to the ground. Its form flickered. In an instant, it took the shape of the child it watched over, with the exception of being blue and translucent.

“Don’t worry, Niko. I have always watched over you, and I don’t intend to stop now. I’ll keep you safe from them. I promise.”


	3. The Possibilities

“Okay, well, how about this?” Chara held out their hands and strained, so hard that their face would’ve went beet red if they weren’t ethereal. Nothing happened. They turned back to where Monika was hovering. “Gah! _How_ did you make it start raining?”

The three of them were still floating near Sayori and Frisk, who were sitting on the sand, letting the rain wash over them. Sayori cupped her hands to collect water, and Frisk followed her lead.

Monika’s eyes darted back and forth. “I—I don’t know! It just sort of happened.”

“How are you even sure it was her?” Asriel asked while scratching his head.

“Oh, come on. These storm clouds came out of nowhere!” Chara turned back toward the pair and continued to strain, fruitlessly trying to manifest something.

“W—Well, what are you trying to make?” Asriel stammered.

“Ugh, I don’t know! Something to help them!”

“Like a…” Asriel furrowed his brow in contemplation.

“Like a…” Chara pressed their hands against their head.

“ _Like a water pouch!_ ” the two of them said in unison. Just like that, the three spectral kids felt something shift.

Frisk stirred. They licked the last bit of water from their hands, stood up, and then tried to pat some of the sand off of their pants. They wobbled a few yards down the dune hill that the two of them were sitting on and started digging.

Sayori piped up. “What is it? Did you find something over there?” The small sip of water did only a small bit to ease the raspiness of her voice. After a moment of scrounging, Frisk held up a leather pouch. Sayori struggled up to her feet and ran over to Frisk. “Is that…Oh! I think I’ve seen one of those before! You can put water inside!”

The spectral trio stood and watched their celebration with mouths agape. Monika was the first to speak. “Well, okay. That worked. Maybe it was because you were both focusing on the same thing?”

Asriel clenched his fists and floated up close to Chara. “That has to be it! I told you, didn’t I? We have to work together!”

Chara groaned. “Fine, whatever. Just help me make a big sign that says ‘Frisk! It’s Chara and Asriel! We’re here to save you!’ Okay?”

Asriel nodded his head vigorously, then held out his hand to Chara. They groaned again, but did take his hand, reluctantly. They faced the two that were now using their hands to funnel rain into the water skin. Monika watched, holding her chin in her hand. The two of them struggled and strained. Nothing happened.

Chara started pulling at their translucent hair. “Arrrgghhh! What is going on?!”

Monika held her arms across her belly. “Try and keep a level head. Clearly, we are able to do some things. We just need to take our time and figure out what the rules of this world are.”

“Well that’s a great sentiment there, Monika, but if you haven’t noticed, THESE TWO ARE INCREDIBLY MORTAL! They might not have enough time for us to work all of this out!”

“Right. In that case, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. Your little temper tantrums are helping them _so much,_ after all.” Monika looked down at them.

Chara’s eyes went wide and they gritted their teeth. They opened their mouth to spit out a comeback, then hesitated. They put their hands on their hips with a sigh and looked down. “Sorry. You’re right. You’re a snotty prick about it, but you’re right.” They took another glance at Frisk, then turned to the horizon. “You guys work on that, then. I’m gonna fly around, see if I can find anything that might help us.” And just like that, they were off. Monika and Asriel floated in silence for a moment.

Asriel spoke first. “Well, they reacted to that better than I expected them to.”

“Me too, and I haven’t even known them for long.” Monika had a bemused expression.

“You didn’t have to be such a jerk about it, though.” Asriel huffed at her.

“Sorry. It’s a reflex.”

“Now…” The voice was different. Monika turned her head quickly. Sure enough, Flowey was floating there, roots and all. He faced Monika, face contorting into an impossibly sinister grin. “Let’s take this world apart, shall we?”

“Ew,” Monika remarked.

“Ew? Ew what?”

“I can… see your roots.”

“My roots? What’s wrong with my roots?”

“You’re pretty much naked.”

Flowey stared at her, speechless. She stared right back with a judgmental brow. “I’m… a flower. Flowers… don’t wear clothes.”

“But you do wear the ground, basically. It’s really weird with you just floating there. It feels… wrong.”

Flowey just sat there for a moment, then contorted back and stared straight into the sun, apparently hoping that it would burn his eyes out. It didn’t. “I hate you. Hate you both. So, so much.”

It took a little while, but the two of them finally got to work on figuring out their powers and limitations. Meanwhile, Chara scanned the nearby area for anything interesting. It was entirely fruitless for a good ten minutes before they noticed a rather large and oddly shaped rock. When they found it, they were busy grumbling about Monika.

“Stupid brat, thinks she’s so smart. Talks to me like I’m a kid. Well let me tell YOU something, pissbaby. I’M—“ They spotted the rock formation. “Wh—oh. Well, that’s a little different.” They flew down to investigate, but just as they drew closer, there was a faint flicker of blue. Or at least, they thought there was. Chara had a hard time deciding whether they’d actually seen it or not. When they reached the ground, They saw something peculiar. The rock created an overhang that shielded part of the ground from the rain, and in that dry patch of sand, was an empty bed. It had a dull gray sheet draped over it messily, with a strange yellow insignia that Chara had never seen before. Besides that, there was nothing. “Hello?” They questioned the air, but realized that it was pointless. The only two that could hear them were almost a mile away. They did a few more sweeps around the rock, but saw nothing else of interest. They shrugged and headed back in the direction they came from. After they were a fair bit away, there was a loud crack, and part of the rock wall slid away. Out from it stepped Niko, the child with wide, yellow eyes.

Niko took a couple of disoriented steps outside of the hidden alcove. They didn’t know how they ended up in there, or why they were now in a rainy desert. They looked over and saw a familiar bed.

“Wha? That’s… the bed that I always slept in, back when I was in…” They looked around. There was nothing but an endless sea of sand in every direction. “Am I… back there? I feel weird.” As they fumbled around, the spectral entity reappeared from the rock. They were still in Niko’s form, since it was the only humanoid form they had ever taken. They didn’t attempt to talk to Niko, because they knew it wouldn’t work.

“Now… what do I do?” The entity wracked their brain over and over, looking for an answer. If they were powerless back when they first encountered Niko, then they were truly and fully powerless now. Before, everything happened within themself. The world, the characters, the events, almost everything _was_ them, and they were always looking inside. Now they were… smaller. They were compressed, and they could only look out. The rules of this world were easy enough for them the deconstruct, and they found themself absolutely lacking. They couldn’t help Niko, again. All they could do was keep them safe.

A few moments passed, and the entity felt something shift. Something large. Niko didn’t seem to react. Of course not. Why would they? Curious, they took to the sky. It wasn’t long before they saw it. Their borrowed jaw went slack. Maybe those children weren’t as hopeless as they had first suspected.

~~~

“Whoa!” Chara wavered in the air as the shift hit them. It was a similar feeling to when they created the water pouch, except about one thousand times stronger. A few hundred feet off from them, there were… buildings. Maybe twenty or so white clay buildings with blue tiled roofs, interspersed with a few trees and wells. “That was _definitely_ not there before.”

“Chara! Charaaaa!” Shouting came from the side. It was Asriel, waving his arms around with a big goofy smile on his face.

Chara rushed over and met him halfway. “Where did this come from? Did—Did you do this?!”

Asriel slammed to a sudden halt and started bouncing up and down. “We did it! We figured it out! See, first of all, it’s easier to do things if more than one of us is focusing on it, right? And, and THEN! You have to do it somewhere where Frisk and Sayori can’t see it! It’s really weird but it WORK—“

Chara grabbed him by the shoulders. “What about Frisk? Did you get them there? Where are they?”

Asriel frowned. “No, _Chara_. I just said that we had to put it where they couldn’t see it! We still need to get them to go there. Weren’t you listening?”

“Ah, uhh, okay! We can do that! Where’s Monika?” Their joyous mood was soured after being reminded of their last conversation with her.

“Oh, uhm, she’s in the town. She said that she wanted to try something.”

“Okay. Let’s go get her and start working from there.” Asriel smiled and nodded and the two of them went after Monika.

~~~

Niko crested a tall dune, attempting to get a better view of the land. The entity floated behind, watchfully. When they reached the top, they caught sight of the small cluster of blue-roofed buildings not too far from where they were. The rain was starting to let up. Niko adjusted their hat and started marching forward.

~~~

Asriel and Chara zipped through the empty streets of the town, shouting after Monika.

“Monikaaaaa! Monikaaaaa!” Asriel looked around for a few moments before he saw a spectral hand phasing through a small shed and waving. Monika poked her head through and beckoned them inside with a smile. They flew in after her.

“Monika! You guys did awesome!” Chara remembered that they were mad at her. “Ah—erm, I mean, you did well enough, I suppose.” They put their hands in their pockets and looked away with a slight pout.

Monika regarded them with an empty smile. “Thanks. Asriel did a lot, too.”

Asriel put a hand to his face. “Aww, stop it. You don’t have to…”

“Besides the whole naked thing.”

Asriel’s expression immediately went stone cold. Chara looked between the two of them. “What? Why were you naked?”

“I wasn’t,” Asriel growled.

“It’s fine.” Monika shrugged. “We’ve discussed what to do about it going forward.”

Chara just stared at him with narrow eyes. There was a long pause. “No. Seriously. Why were you—“

“I WASN’T NAKED!”

Chara flinched. Monika let out an affected sigh. Chara turned back to her. “Oh, weren’t you supposed to be working on something?” They heard a loud thud. The two younger ones spun around to face the noise. The shed that they were in housed high stacks of crates from one wall to the other. Chara looked back to Monika. “What was that.”

She just stood there and smiled. Asriel and Chara slowly peeled their eyes from her and went around a large stack of crates to investigate. They found a man, solidly built with a stained white shirt and overalls, grunting and moving boxes from one place to another. They stared for a moment, utterly confused, then looked back at Monika in unison. Monika’s smile shifted into something mischievous and slightly off-putting.

She giggled. “I made a person.”


	4. Intersection

The man went about his work as Chara and Asriel stared, unblinking. Chara kept trying to form words, but wound up just looking back and forth while their mouth made shapes with no sound coming out. Finally, they let their baffled expression rest on Monika.

“W-Wha?”

Monika waved a finger in the air. “You heard me. I made a person.”

Chara started making vague, confused hand gestures. “But! That’s not! We just! Made a water pouch! And then _houses_? And then _PEOPLE_?” They ruffled a hand through their bangs and looked back at the man, exasperated. “That’s not something that you can just do!”

She cocked her head to the side. “Well, apparently, it is.” Her smile grew wider.

“No! It isn’t!” They turned back to her.

“His name is Reginald.”

“NO! IT ISN’T!”

Asriel was floating close to the man, hand shyly outstretched. “How did…I mean…” He pulled back. “People are…complicated, right? Wouldn’t it take a really long time to make a person? How would you even know how?”

Monika crossed her arms. “Well, neither of us are architects or carpenters, either, but you don’t see these buildings caving in, do you?”

He brought his hand to his face. “Well, no. I guess not.”

Monika snapped her fingers. “Wanna see something interesting?”

Asriel’s brow furrowed in curiosity. Chara grumbled and started gnawing on their thumbnail. Monika faced Reginald and held up her hand. A moment passed, then there was a small shift as a hammer appeared right in front of him. Without a moment of hesitation, he picked up the hammer and began nailing shut one of the nearby crates.

“Apparently, the rules are different with people we create. We couldn’t make anything when Frisk or Sayori would have seen it, but I can make something appear right in front of Reginald’s face. Not only does it work, he doesn’t even bat an eyelash.”

“Whoa, really?” Asriel was becoming visibly invested in this new turn of events. “I wanna try!”

Chara’s gaze shot around at him. “You _what?_ Do you have any idea what level of fuckery we’re dealing with here?”

“First of all, swear. Second of all, I mean, I’m still not sure that anything we create is actually real. What’s the harm in trying? If we don’t find out what we’re capable of, Frisk and Sayori could stay trapped in here forever!”

“Not to mention us.” Monika said with a neutral expression. “Besides, I have no intention of living in this place without knowing what I can do, at the very least.”

Chara pinched the bridge of their nose and sighed. “Listen. First and foremost, we need to get Frisk and that Sayori girl someplace safe. We’ve got this town, and we’ve got water. Can we just focus on them for the time being?”

Asriel clenched his fists and nodded. “Of course, Chara. We haven’t forgotten. This’ll make that way easier!” He turned around to Monika. “You can just tell Reginald to go and get them, right?”

She frowned. “Well, about that. Interacting with Reginald is…strange. I can’t, say, direct him to walk outside, but what I _can_ do…” She raised her hand. This time, there was a faint glimmer that resembled a parchment with a quill scribbling furiously in front of her. After another moment, it was gone.

Reginald finished hammering on the crate that he was working on and scooted it to the side. He stood up and wiped his brow. “Alright, that takes care of that.” His voice was warm, with just a hint of raspiness. “Now I just need to pull up some water before it gets dark out.” He walked out of the small warehouse and made a beeline for the nearest well.

“There. Now he has added getting water to his daily routine. I’ve also decided that he lives in one of the huts on the northern edge of the village.”

Asriel’s eyes went wide with wonder. “Whoaa! What did you do?”

“I just…modified him. I can’t control him directly, but I can add to who he is. It’s, well, kind of hard to put into words.”

Chara crossed their arms and cocked an eyebrow. “You sure figured out a lot of stuff while I was gone. I really wasn’t out for that long.”

She clasped her hands behind her back and giggled. “What can I say? I’m efficient. Now, what do you say we get Sayori and Frisk’s attention? I have a plan.”

“What’s your plan?” Asriel asked eagerly.

“Well, it would be really hard if I just sent Regi out into the desert. He has no reason to know where they are, so he probably won’t be able to find them. We could find a way to work around that, but it would be simplest to have them come to us.”

Chara sneered “How—“

“With a party.”

“A party?!” Asriel raised his hands in the air.

“Mhm. Could I count on you to make us some festival decorations, Asriel? I’m sure that you could come up with some amazing fireworks, too.”

“Heck yeah!” Asriel gasped and clapped his hands over his mouth. “I mean, oh yeah!” His smile was enormous and little stars were forming in his eyes.

Monika turned to Chara, whose scowl was burning holes in the side of her head. “Chara, I need your help, too. Why don’t we make the rest of the villagers together?”

~~~

The rain dissipated just as the sun started to hang low in the sky. Sayori looked over at Frisk, who was still sitting next to her in the sand. They raised the water skin up to their lips, but stopped when they saw her looking. They held the skin up toward her, instead.

Sayori gave a tired grin. “No, I’m fine. I was just making sure you were alright.” It occurred to Sayori that she still didn’t know this child’s name. They could apparently hear her and understand what she was saying, but they never spoke. She decided to ask. “Can you…tell me your name?”

Frisk looked at her for a moment, then down at their feet. They dug the toes of their shoes into the sand, then after a moment, sat the water skin down and held out their hand toward Sayori.

Sayori was confused, but offered her own hand after spending a moment trying to guess what they were after. Frisk took her hand and turned it so that her palm was facing up, then started to trace letters with their other finger.

F-R-I-S-K.

“Fr—…Frisk? Is your name Frisk?”

They nodded vigorously.

“Well, nice to meet you, Frisk. I’m Sayori!” She spoke with all of the pep that was left in her.

Frisk patted their legs happily. They sat and looked out at the setting sun together. Sayori broke the silence. “We’ll probably need to get moving soon. It’ll probably be easier to travel at night than during the day.” Frisked huffed and laid down fully in the sand. “Hey, hold on,” Sayori protested. “That sand will be real tough to get out of your hair, you know!” Frisk raised their arms and legs, then plopped them back down again. For emphasis. Sayori puffed her cheeks in aggravation, but before she could say anything else, there was a distant _boom._ She looked over in the direction it came from—Frisk jolted upright. Barely visible over the farthest dune were colorful bursts of light against the darkening sky, each accompanied by delayed booms and thuds.

“Are those…fireworks?” Sayori said, barely believing the words that were coming out of her own mouth. In the next instant, Frisk was upright and in front of her, enthusiastically tugging her hand. “Uh—oh, right! Let’s…go?”

It took roughly twenty minutes for them to reach the dune that was obstructing their view, and by that time, night had completely overtaken the sky. As wonderful as the rain was during the day, their damp clothes were horribly uncomfortable in the cooler nighttime air. Frisk tried to hug Sayori’s leg for warmth as they went, but that wasn’t terribly conducive to walking. When they crested the top, Sayori was fussing and trying to comb some of the sand out of Frisk’s hair. It was then that they saw the village.

“I told you that—oh!” The fireworks were still going: wonderful patterns of bursts and stars in every color that you could imagine. “I didn’t realize that we were this close!” The town itself was small and dimly lit with rows of lanterns strung from one house to another. There were dozens of people out in the streets, apparently partaking in some kind of celebration. Before Sayori noticed, Frisk was thirty feet down the dune ahead of her and heading for the town. “H-Hey! You’d better wait on me!” Frisk turned around and waved at her, but didn’t stop. Sayori growled and clumsily prodded down the slope after them.

When Frisk reached the edge of the town, they huddled up behind a tree, gingerly peeking around to observe the festivities. Sayori caught up to them, placing a hand against the tree as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Don’t… *pant* Run off…like that… *pant* Again. *pant* Okay?”

Frisk turned back and gave her a big toothy grin. She couldn’t help but smile back. The two of them looked back at the crowd. Everyone was dressed simply; most wore light fabrics of bright colors, or large white shawls. There were several food stands, street performers, musicians, jugglers, and so on. Off to the side, Sayori saw what seemed to be a large caravan of wagons. They inspected the individuals more closely. Sayori’s mouth hung agape and her eyes went wide. Frisk noticed the same thing and began jumping up and down. One of the vendors had orange skin, large horns, and four arms.

Sayori instinctively took a step back. “What… What is…” Frisk vibrated excitedly for a moment and then rushed forward in a blur. Sayori managed to snag them by the shirt before they took off. “No! You stay put! There’s… There’s!”

Monsters. Not just the one vendor, either. While many of the villagers were humans, Sayori began to notice that just as many of them were something else entirely. Some walked like humans, but had other features that she had never seen before: wings, scales, fur, tails. Others didn’t resemble humans at all. There were large birds with brilliant feathers, monsters that slithered, a little green orb with semi-mechanical arms… Sayori didn’t know what they were, but they scared her.

Frisk turned to her, apparently having noticed her look of shock. They took both of her hands and looked up at her with concern. She couldn’t understand their calm temperament. Her voice shook. “Do you…Have you…seen those things before?”

Frisk smiled and nodded, then let go with one hand and started to pull her toward the village.

“I—But—“ Sayori pulled back. Frisk stopped, turned her hand over and began tracing something else.

F-R-I-E-N-D-S.

Sayori swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll trust you on this, I guess…” They tentatively began walking toward the crowd, hand in hand.

“Oh! Here they come! Here they come!” Asriel spun around in circles as Frisk and Sayori finally approached the town.

Monika chimed in. “How could they not? This whole thing would be kind of hard to miss. Great work on the fireworks, by the way.”

Asriel blushed. Probably. It’s hard to tell when you’re blue and see-through. And furry. “Aw, shucks. It was nothing. I’m just glad that I finished in time to help out with the villagers!”

Chara flew over to them. They had been tailing Frisk and Sayori for the past hour. “Sheesh, I thought they’d never make it. It’s like they have lead in their pants or something.”

“Well, I admire your dedication. Though there was no real reason to worry.” Monika looked back down at Sayori, who was still being somewhat sheepish in approaching any of the villagers. “She’s reacting to the monsters pretty much how I thought she would.”

“I’m sure it won’t take her long to get used to them. That’s so weird, though. There are really no monsters in the world you’re from?” Asriel asked.

Monika chuckled. “No, but it’s a pretty small place.”

“We’ve got contact,” Chara chimed. The other two looked down. Sayori and Frisk had made it close enough for one of the villagers to spot them. In a matter of moments, three individuals had made their way over to them. Sayori stood behind Frisk with her hands on their shoulders. Frisk placed their hands on hers and smiled.

“Are you two okay? Where did you come from?” The questions came from a human woman with dark skin and sky blue garments. Frisk squeezed Sayori’s hands.

“Oh! I, uh, we…” She was having trouble looking them in the eyes. “I’m… Sayori. And this is Frisk. We’ve been stuck in the desert and we were hoping… that um…”

“Oh you _poor dears_.” The small, green, floating orb lurched forward. Its arms were made of dark stone, thin where they touched its body with thick “forearms” of intricate design and three flattened fingers. “We’ll get you fixed right up. Don’t you worry your poor little heads over it. Kieran!”

The third figure jumped. “Uh, right! Come, follow me.” He was a large, bear-shaped monster with the face of an otter. He walked on two legs and had a long tail that dragged behind him. “I’ll get you some food and a change of clothes.” Frisk would have skipped after him if Sayori weren’t still clinging to them for dear life.

Monika reclined in the air above them. “Well, I’d say that we can chalk that up to a success.”

Chara watched as the little green orb, who they had named Zero, zoomed from vendor to vendor to performer to patron and made sure that everyone was having a good time. Zero was the only “character” that Chara had made, after endless prodding from Monika and Asriel. They still weren’t comfortable with the whole concept, but they figured that they could at least make one thing that was completely harmless just so the other two would shut up. They watched as Zero tried to mimic the juggler's act, only to fail miserably. Everyone that watched got a good laugh out of it, and Chara couldn’t help but snicker.

“Ohhhhhhhh my~” Zero egged everyone on. “I guess I’m just not cut out for show business!~”

Chara snickered again. Asriel floated up to them with a sly grin on his face. “Gee, a flamboyant robot that loves to be the center of attention. I just can’t imagine who he’s based off of.”

Chara’s eyes widened and their ghostly cheeks flushed. They took a swing at Asriel. “Shut up!” Asriel ducked away and giggled. Chara crossed their arms. “I guess… maybe I used the parts of him that _didn’t_ suck too much.”

“Mhmmmmm.” Asriel grinned harder. Chara swung again and missed. Just then, another villager came up to Zero and whispered something.

“Ohh? Another one? Well, we’re putting the other two up at Kieran’s place. Why don’t you just take them over there? I’m sure he won’t mind.” The villager nodded and left at a hurried pace.

Monika floated over to the other two. “What were they talking about just now?”

Chara was still fuming and chasing after Asriel. They jumped when she said that. “Huh? Oh, beats me. I didn’t catch it.”

A few seconds passed before the villager returned with a child in tow. They weren’t a monster, but they also didn’t look strictly human. The three of them eyed the child with suspicion.

Monika spoke up. “Asriel, did you…?”

“Uh, no? That’s not one of mine. Chara? I thought you just made Zero?”

“I did. Wait, are you telling me that you two didn’t create that kid?” Chara floated closer. The child wore a red-brown top with sleeves that were far too long and a cap with cat ears on it. Their eyes were a brilliant yellow. “Because they totally look like someone Asriel would come up with.”

Asriel frowned. “Hey, what’s that supposed to—“ He stopped as his eyes trained on something. “Hold on…” In the next instant, he was gone. Chara and Monika looked around, but couldn’t see him or what had caught his attention.

Behind one of the buildings, the entity pressed their back against the wall and huffed. “That was close. I think they almost—“

“ _Ahem.”_

The entity froze in place. Their eyes peeled to the left, then to the right, but they couldn’t see anyone. After a moment of terrified contemplation, they looked up. There, poking out of the wall and staring directly at them, was an ethereal flower. With a face. It regarded them with dreadful disdain.

“Just _who_ might _you_ be?”


	5. Checkpoint

The entity shared an intense look with Flowey for a long moment. They took a step back, then tensed their fists and faced him fully.

“I—! I’m—!” They looked around frantically, their translucent image flickering as they panicked. Flowey opened his mouth to say something else, but the entity darted through the wall, into the building where the children were.

“Hey! Where do you think _you’re_ going?!” Flowey grimaced as they disappeared, then immediately followed them.

It was a small hut, dimly lit on the inside by a few lamps on the tables and window frames. Frisk and Sayori were sitting on a wicker couch with soft, green cushions. Kieran was lumbering over from his stove with a small platter of tea in his paws when the villager pushed through the door with Niko in tow. The entity stumbled as they entered through the wall—their eyes training immediately on Niko and then regarding the rest of the room with suspicion. Flowey appeared at their feet.

“Hey! Listen, bub. You’re gonna tell me who you are and why you’re here, or I’m gonna! Do! Something! Something _real_ bad!”

The entity looked down at Flowey with a scowl, but just gritted their teeth without saying anything. They looked back over at Niko, who was still being led by the hand.

The villager with them was a young man with dark gold skin and a red vest with the front unbuttoned. He ruffled his hand through his dark hair and laughed sheepishly. “Hey, Kieran. I, uh, don’t suppose that you have room for one more, do you?”

Kieran paused and let out a small sigh. For him, at least. Any noise that came from him was robust compared to the smaller creatures around him. “I guess so. It’s fine. No trouble at all. Really.” He looked over at the small one half-hiding behind the boy. “Alright, why don’t you just have a seat down by those other two. I’ll grab another cup. Do you like tea?”

Niko let go of the boy’s hand and walked out into the room a bit. “Uhm, yeah! I like tea!” Niko brought their sleeve-covered hands together and grinned.

Sayori, who had been fixated on them since they walked in, leaned forward in her seat and smiled. “Hey! What’s your name?”

Niko turned and cocked their head a bit. “Oh. Sorry. My name’s Niko.”

“Nice to meet you, Niko! I’m Sayori! And this is Frisk.” She motioned toward Frisk, who was already out of their seat and trotting over toward Niko. Frisk stood uncomfortably close to them, causing Niko to take a step back.

“H-Hello, Frisk. Is there… something you need?” Niko asked. Frisk was a couple of inches shorter than them. They regarded Niko, mouth open in wonder. After a moment of gawking, they smiled, then stood on their tiptoes and tugged at one of the “ears” on Niko’s hat.

“Hey! Let go of that!” Niko protested. Frisk immediately took a step back and frowned, clasping their hands in front of them. Niko looked at them for a moment, then smiled. “Okay, okay. Here.” They took off their hat, revealing a messy mop of blue hair. “Let’s see if it fits.” They tugged the hat over Frisk’s head, who audibly giggled when it fell down over their eyes. They took a step back, giggled again, and began spinning around excitedly.

Flowey and the entity were looking on in silence, until Flowey spoke up. “Well, since you’re not talking, I’m just going to assume that that one is yours? Since you look exactly alike, and all.”

The entity was startled at the question, seemingly having forgotten that Flowey was even there. “What? Mine? What do you mean?”

“You made them, I mean. My, uh, friends? And I? We made the other villagers. I’m assuming that you made that kid.”

The entity turned away. “No. I didn’t make Niko. I’m just… watching over them, I guess.”

“Huh. Is that a fact.” Flowey turned back to the room. “Interesting.”

Frisk, Sayori, and Niko resituated on the couch as Kieran began serving them tea, with help of the villager boy. Just then, Monika poked her head through the door. “Ah, there you are.”

The entity spun around. Chara scooted in behind Monika. “Hey! Don’t just go disappearing like that!” Chara’s gaze moved from Flowey to the entity. Their body tensed and their gaze went narrow. “Who are you.”

The entity shot backwards, apparently ready to flee, then looked over at Niko. They were sipping tea happily. The entity hesitated. “ _Back off!_ Don’t you come anywhere _near_ them!”

Chara lurched forward. “Oh? And why should we listen to _you_?”

Monika stepped in. “Now, now. There’s no need for this. Obviously this… person… is in the same boat that we are.”

“Yeah, besides.” Flowey shrugged. “I already tried to be threatening. Didn’t do much good.”

There was an awkward, silent standoff punctuated by the clinking of glassware and the muffled sounds of the festival outside. Chara’s shoulders relaxed. Monika opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, all of the sounds that had surrounded them fell away. They winced in confusion for a moment before looking at the room around them. Everything was completely still; the tea that the boy was pouring for Kieran had stopped in mid-air, the fire in the lamps no longer flickered, and everyone in the hut had stopped moving completely.

Flowey’s expression curdled. “What the h—“

All at once, their surroundings fell away and they found themselves again inside the black void, encircling the crystal ball. They looked around at each other in bafflement.

Monika stood up. “Uhm... well. That was... sudden.” She took a moment to look at the others. Chara was shaking off their daze, Flowey was still Flowey, and the new “addition” still looked exactly like the child in the other place. She placed her hand on her forehead. “I wonder what brought us back?” She noticed the others look up at her, then past her. Their brows curled with confusion. “What? What is it?” Monika asked, befuddled. She followed their gazes and turned around.

Behind her, maybe thirty feet away from where they stood, was an enormous stone wall. It was easily forty feet tall and two-hundred feet wide. Strange shapes were carved into it, with some near the left side glowing.

“What… in the world…” Chara began tentatively walking toward the wall. “That was definitely not here before.” They stepped up close and pressed their hand against the stone.

Asriel appeared behind them. “What… What do you think it is?”

“I have no idea. I wonder what these markings are.”

Monika stood back with her hands on her hips. “Hmm. How strange. It almost seems like…”

The purpose behind the shapes carved into the stone wall was unclear. What drew one’s attention most were the glowing symbols on the far left. There were two large circles, side by side, connected by a line. Within the first circle were three red-tinted humanoid shapes, hugging the edges of the circle. The second circle showed the same three figures, this time very close to each other in the center. Upon taking a closer look, the entire rest of the mural was comprised of similar circles connected by lines, but only the first two circles glowed.

The three of them stared for a few moments before Chara remembered their new addition. They spun around. The entity wasn’t paying any attention to the wall whatsoever. They were fixated on the crystal ball—shooting from side to side to peer into it from different angles.

“Hey!” Chara snapped. They stomped over toward them. “What is your deal? Who are you and why are you here? Spit it out.”

The entity half faced them, their attention still being split between them and the ball. They sighed. “I’m no one. Just like you. I’m probably here for the same ludicrous reason that you all are.”

They all turned to face them. Chara crossed their arms. “And what reason is that?”

“I have no idea.” They took another worried glance at the orb. “Something to do with some higher being with arbitrary whims that we’re not equipped to understand. I’ve been through this sort of thing before, and it’s not fun.”

Asriel hugged his arms together. “So you’re… like us?”

The entity stared at him for a moment. After a few heavy seconds of silence, they spoke. “I guess I am. Sort of. Though the three of you are pretty slow to catch on to things.”

Monika raised her finger. “Oh? Would you kindly enlighten us, in that case?”

“I don’t think that any of us have that kind of time,” the entity responded flatly.

“Try us.” Chara was impatiently tapping their finger against their arm.

The entity sighed again, then took a long look into the crystal ball. “I am… or, I was… a simulation. It’s not something that I can really explain. But…” They looked back at the trio. “I listened to your conversation. Before you went to… the other place. You all saw more than you were meant to see. You had more power than you were meant to have. You were… something small that became something larger. I’m… well… I’m something large that became something much smaller.” They looked down at their sleeves. “And now I’m something smaller, still.”

Chara cocked their head. “Congratulations. You somehow managed to answer exactly none of our questions.”

“Chara, let them finish!” Asriel piped up. He gave the entity a soft smile. “Go on. We’re listening.”

The entity felt a strange warmth in their face—another of many sensations that were new upon coming to this strange world. “I, well, I—“ They stammered. “What I’m saying is… we’ve been given a role. It’s a role that I’m used to, but that you’re obviously very new to.”

“You mean—“ Monika began, her words trailing off into the void. “—power.”

The entity nodded. “Specifically, the power to shape the world. From what you’ve said, you’ve all _tasted_ this kind of power before, but it overtook you. That…” Their look grew distant. “…We have that in common.”

Chara sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of their nose. “I’m tired of all this!” They took a loud step forward. “We’re doing nothing but talking in circles! We have _allllll_ of these super cool powers, but when it comes to saving our friends, telling them that we’re here, or even figuring out _why we were dumped here in the first place,_ we’re completely worthless! I mean, if you’re supposed to be so much better than us at this, then can you at least offer up something useful?!”

Asriel scowled at Chara, but didn’t say anything. The entity stood still for another moment. “You want to know how to get out of this?”

“Yes!” Chara threw their hands in the air. “That would be fantastic!”

The entity pointed at the large stone wall. “It looks like you’re on the right track, already.”

Everyone shifted around to look at the mural. “What, this?” Chara griped. “We don’t even know what this is!”

“It’s a hint,” Monika stated simply.

“It’s a guide,” The entity chimed.

“A… what?” Asriel and Chara spoke in unison as they turned toward them.

Monika took a few steps toward the wall. “You said this has to have something to do with a greater being, right?”

The entity hummed in agreement.

Monika furrowed her brow and held her hand up toward the wall. A few moments passed, nothing happened.

“See? I can’t do anything to it.” Chara and Asriel looked on in confusion. Monika turned around to the crystal podium and held out her hand again. “Yup, nothing. These things are the only things in this space that we didn’t create ourselves. Something else put them here—probably the same something that put _us_ here.”

The entity grinned. “Well, I’m glad that _one_ of you has at least a small grasp of the situation.”

Chara growled and Asriel walked over and placed his hand on their shoulder. Chara gave him a cross look, but didn’t protest past that. Asriel took another hard look at the mural. “So, these pictures have to do with why we’re here?”

“They have to.” Monika said with confidence. “Look at the first glowing picture. Three figures far apart. And then in the second, the three figures are close together. Those three figures have to be our friends.”

Asriel looked toward her. “What makes you so sure?”

Monika huffed and crossed her arms, not looking away from the wall. “Well, the second picture shows the three of them together, and we weren’t forced back until the three of them met. That’s what it’s doing, it’s showing us what to do next.”

“What’s the purpose, in that case?” Chara had apparently recomposed themself and was now regarding the picture more carefully. “Even if something does want us to follow this roadmap, how do we know that we’ll get what we want at the end of it?”

There was another silence, and Monika broke it. “We don’t.” After that, the quiet was pin-drop.

The entity walked toward the mural. “Well, now we’re all on the same page. What I’m _not_ sure of is what comes next. This is laid out like a game, and most games have an end goal. Since we’ve been provided with a guide, my bet is that this is one of those games. We just have to go along with it for now, if we want to get our… friends… out of this predicament safely.” They turned to the rest of the group. “What other choice do we have?”

Monika was quiet. Chara and Asriel were inspecting the next part of the mural. The third circle in the sequence contained the same red-tinted figures closely surrounded by other, light blue figures. There were no clues beyond that.

“Hmm… I don’t really get it. These blue ones… are those us? There seem to be too many.” Asriel scratched his head.

“Maybe.” The entity walked up closer to them. “What do you think, Chara?”

Chara’s head spun around to the entity, then back to the mural. “Well, I mean there _are_ way more of those blue guys than there are of us. Maybe those figures are supposed to be the other ones? As in the people that we create?”

The entity nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s the most likely thing. I’m not too sure what we’re supposed to do with the other characters, though.”

Asriel looked at the entity, then away, then back again. “Hey… uhm… so… If we’re going to be working together, can you… tell us your name?”

The entity recoiled slightly at that question. “My… name? I don’t, I mean…” They scratched their head and looked away. “I don’t… I’ve never really had something like that. Not like you guys, at least.”

“Oh, really?” Asriel turned to face them fully. “Well, I mean, I guess that’s a little sad, but also really cool! I mean, like, that means that you could pick your own name!” Stars formed in Asriel’s eyes.

“I, uhm, well you see…”

“Before that,” Monika gave them a sideways glance. “Let me ask you something—why do you choose to look exactly like that child?” Her expression was an unreadable mix of curious and bored.

“Why? Well, I…” Their look trailed off. “I… don’t really know. Niko was the first person that I… felt anything about? Maybe not entirely, but…” They placed their hands on their hips and looked hard at the everblack floor. “The need to protect Niko was the strongest feeling that I’d ever felt. And… it still is. I don’t know how to explain it, but…” They looked back up at her. “That shaped me. That’s why I see myself as… sort of… a reflection of them.”

Asriel perked up again. “Ooh! A _reflection_. How about… _Mirrory_?” He held his clenched fists up to his face and took a step toward the entity, who in turn took a sheepish step back. “Or, or! How about…” His expression dropped and his brow scrunched up. “Okay, yeah, that’s all I’ve got.”

Chara grinned and patted Asriel on the back. “It’s okay. You tried.” Chara took another look at the entity, though a much softer one than they were used to.

The entity felt their cheeks flush again. They looked away and responded, “My, uhm, father? Sometimes referred to me as OneShot.”

“Well, that’s really not a very good name. No offense to your dad.” Chara pursed their lips and thought for a moment. “How about… Alpha?”

“Ooh!” Asriel’s eyes lit up once more. “That’s a good one, Chara! Or, if you don’t like that one, you could go with… _Shotty._ ”

Chara facepalmed. “Asriel, come on.”

Monika chuckled. “It sounds too much like shawty.”

Asriel shot her a confused look. “Wait, what? Of course it does! You just said exactly what I said!” He protested.

“No I didn’t.”

“You did too! You said Shotty!”

“No, I said shawty. I spelled it differently.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SPELLED IT DIFFERENTLY WE’RE TALKING WITH MOUTH WORDS.” Asriel was visibly shaking; Monika broke down and doubled over with laughter. Chara walked over to Asriel and started patting his ear. Asriel tried to pull away from them at first, but quickly gave in.

The entity laughed, too. The anxieties that had been plaguing them regarding these children had started to melt away. They allowed their thoughts to wander for a moment. Monika recomposed herself, standing up straight while wiping away a tear. “Ohh. Anyway, we’re not getting anything done here. Why don’t we start thinking about what to do next? I believe that our friends are in dire need of a wardrobe change, at the very least.

Asriel gasped. “I call dibs on Frisk!”

“Hey, hold on, what?” Chara interjected. “How’s that fair?”

“Sorry, Chara, but even gods have to respect dibs.”

Monika regarded the entity again. “So, how about it? Can we count on your help to get this all figured out?”

The entity snapped back to awareness when she spoke. “Ah, oh, uhm, yes! Of course.” Their eyes fell to the ground for a moment, then they looked back up to her with a big smile. “And, uhm, why don’t you go ahead and call me Alpha from now on? I kind of like the sound of that.”


	6. Immersion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for dropping off for a while. Real life has been happening a lot lately. We're starting to get into stuff that I'm excited for, though. Hope you like the chapter!

Sayori spun in place, her light green, floral-patterned shawl fanning out as she went. She stopped herself, giggling at the sudden onset of dizziness. She had a simple white blouse underneath, and beige pants that were rolled up to the knees.

“It’s so pretty!” she cheered.

Niko came out from around a corner, wearing a similar shawl with a dark red color that closely resembled the sweater they had been wearing, along with a set of loose fitting navy blue garments. They waved their arms around with a smile, feeling the air pass through their new clothes. "Frisk, are you almost done?" Niko half-yelled over their shoulder.

Frisk brought up the rear. They were fussing with their own shawl, which was a deep violet with light blue trim. Their set of underclothes was a simple gray color. They seemed convinced that the shawl was on backwards, despite the fact that it looked identical from every angle.

Sayori clapped her hands to her face. "You two look so cuuute!~"

Kieran stood up from the large wicker seat in his living room and gave them a once over. "Not too shabby. Cameron!"

The boy that had found Niko stepped out from behind the same corner that the children had. He smiled wide. "You like? We're lucky that I had these lying around, huh?"

"Indeed." Kieran nodded. "You kids look much more comfortable in those. How do they feel?"

"Great!" Sayori couldn't help but look down every few seconds to admire the expert stitchwork. She looked over to Cameron. "You really made these yourself?"

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, yup! Sure did. That's sort of my thing. I'm glad you like them!" His cheeks darkened in a blush.

Kieran righted himself in his chair. The dry wooden joints groaned under his weight, but held steady. He crossed his clawed fingers under his face and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "So. You're cleaned up and fed. But now I have to ask, how in the world did you kids wind up all the way out here? We're not exactly 'on the way' to, well, anywhere."

The three of them looked at each other, confused and apprehensive. Sayori spoke up first. "I, uhm, I'm not really sure? Frisk and I just sort of... woke up. Out in the desert. Everything before that, I..." She looked down at the ground. Her look grew distant. "It's... hard to piece together." She looked back up at Kieran. "This place... is nothing like the place that I remember." She looked over at Frisk, then to Niko. "How about you? How did you get here?"

Niko frowned slightly and furrowed their brow. "Well, it's really the same for me. I remember being home, and then being here. I'm really confused." They crossed their arms under their shawl. "To be honest, this sort of thing has happened to me before. Waking up in a strange world all of a sudden. But... I don't think that this is the same place that I visited before. It feels different. And, well, in the other place, I had a friend that helped me. I don't feel them here."

All eyes were on Niko. Cameron had taken a seat at the table. He looked between everyone for a moment before breaking the silence. "Uhm, so, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm only getting more confused the longer this conversation goes." He leaned his elbow on the table. "Like, where are you guys from? Even if you don't know how you got here, we can at least start working on maybe getting you back home."

"Home..." Sayori said softly. "It's so hard to remember... I can really only remember the school. And the school... what was it's name?" She ruffled a hand through her hair. "Did... Did it HAVE a name?" Her eyes went distant again. "I did spend time at home... in my room. There was..." An image flashed in her mind, accompanied by an indescribable feeling. Her chest tightened, and it felt as if every last bit of oxygen was being ripped from her lungs. Her vision split and she collapsed onto her knees-- her hands moved involuntarily as she started scraping at her neck. The room around her started to go dark and the sounds fell away, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Then, her vision returned and she found herself gasping for air. She was on all fours now. She managed to look over; it was Frisk's hand on her shoulder. Everyone else in the room had formed a circle around her.

Kieran held a hand out. "Give her some space! Back up!" Niko and Cameron obeyed, but Frisk stayed. They didn't take their eyes away from Sayori for even a moment. Kieran knelt down in front of her, a couple of feet back. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Sayori's breath was still coming back to her in gasps. She made an effort to slow her breathing, then sat on the ground with her hands in her lap. She felt her senses slowly return to her. There were a few moments where her breaths were the only audible thing in the room, but she finally managed to speak.

"I... I'm sorry." Her eyes were fixed on the floor. "That... hasn't happened before. I'm sorry you had to see that." She paused. "I'm sorry." She felt something warm move down the side of her neck. She pressed a finger to it, then pulled it back. It was blood.

~~~

"What... was that?" Chara questioned, side-eyeing Monika.

Monika just stared at the scene, covering her mouth with one hand. She lowered it, but was carefully guarded in her expression. "Well, she's been through quite a bit. I guess she tried to reach back a little too far."

Chara continued to look at her. Asriel and Alpha floated in silence.

"Hmm." Chara turned back.

~~~

"Whoa! You're bleeding!" Cameron quickly moved around the corner and down the hallway. "Kieran, where do you keep your medical stuff?" he called back as he went.

"Check the bathroom. Cupboard over the sink." Kieran looked back at Sayori. "You're sure you're alright?"

She nodded. "I am. I just remembered something scary. I'm okay now." She looked back over at Frisk. They still hadn't budged. "I'm okay." She patted their head. "Thank you."

Frisk's expression didn't change. They finally moved their hand, but refused to look away from her. Cameron reentered the living room with a damp cloth and a bandage.

He went to press the cloth against the scratches, but Sayori held out her hand for it. He stopped for a moment, then handed the items over. "Oh. Okay. Here you go."

"Thank you." She gave him a smile, then gently applied the cold rag to her neck. She jumped slightly at the tingle of it. "Uhm... so... what were we talking about?"

Kieran shifted, the chair again contorting under his weight. "I'm... suddenly not so sure about all of this." He turned to Niko. "You said something about another world." He leaned in toward them. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

Niko blinked. "Oh. Well, there's my world. That I came from. A while back, I woke up in a different world, but I eventually found my way back. I assume that this is something similar."

Kieran and Cameron gave each other a look. Cameron leaned against the wall. "Should I... go get someone? This all sounds really weird."

Kieran sighed. "No." He thought for a moment, then stood up with a huff. "You know, I'm not certain of what we should do, but there is one thing that I do know. There's a festival going on, and you kids could do with a night of fun and relaxation."

Frisk stood up and jumped around with an excited smile. They caught themself after a moment and looked back down at Sayori.

Sayori smiled up at them. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." She applied the bandage to the open wound and stood up slowly. Frisk and Niko hopped to her sides to help, but she managed mostly on her own.

Cameron pushed off of the wall. "Alright then, let's do it! Follow me. I'll give you the grand tour." He turned toward the exit and motioned for them to follow. The trio obliged, the two smaller ones holding onto Sayori's hands.

Kieran was left alone in his home. The large furry creature played absentmindedly with a cold cup of tea on the table beside him.

~~~

"Okay, so what's the gameplan here?" Chara asked.

Asriel looked over to them. "What do you mean? They're having fun at the festival."

"Yeah, but then what? Are we just going to have them mess around in this little village forever?"

Monika chimed in. "You're wanting to progress? I'm still not sure how we would go about that."

Alpha nodded. "We still haven't made much progress in deciphering the stone reliefs. We can't really pursue a goal before we know what it is."

"I'm not suggesting that we sit around and stare at a big stone wall for hours, either. We're not going to make any progress that way. We just have to try things until something works." Chara watched the crowds absently with their arms crossed.

They all followed Chara's gaze. "You're right," Alpha responded. "So. What do you want to do?"

Chara scratched their head. "I'm... not sure."

Asriel swirled around in the air. "We could... make the town bigger."

"We've already observed that we're unable to manipulate things that would be in direct contradiction to our friends' concept of reality," Alpha said flatly. "If we make changes, we would only be able to do things that would be believable to them."

Asriel pressed a finger to his chin and thought for a moment. "The picture on the stone had the three of them surrounded by a bunch of other people. But if that's all it is, then we've already done that." He motioned toward the festival. "That means that it has to be something else." His gaze shifted. "What do you think, Monika?"

Monika jolted a bit at the sound of her name. Her gaze had been fixed upon Sayori for the last few moments. She watched as she picked out candied apples for herself and her two new friends. Monika cleared her throat. "That's not an easy question. But, uhm, I think that you all are on the right track. If we're trying to go along with... whatever this is... I suppose that we should just create more things for them to interact with."

"Good." Asriel rubbed his hands together with a mischievous smile. "Because I've already got a few new ideas."

~~~

Sayori, Niko, and Frisk wandered the modest streets, taking in the sounds of laughter and scattered musicians, the occasional bursts of color from the fireworks in the sky, and the melding scents from the different food stalls that they passed. Cameron followed a few paces behind, casually introducing them to passerby that asked about them. After a few minutes of leisurely strolling, the group heard a ruckus coming from the city's large central fountain. They found their way over, crisscrossing between people and monsters that had begun to coagulate at the scene. Frisk ended up at the front of the pack, pulling Sayori along as she pulled Niko. Cameron grunted and groaned as he did his best not to be separated from them.

"Come on, and gather round! Don't take your eyes away, even for a moment!" A small woman clad in simple clothes and suspenders with pointed ears and fiery red hair beckoned the crowd from atop a barrel. Behind her were three large wheeled platforms, each with flamboyantly-dressed performers situated on top. The two platforms on either side held jugglers and dancers, musicians and acrobats, all performing with wide flourishes and enthusiastic bellows. On the center platform stood a single woman in flowing white silks. Her skin was gray and was laced with swirling stripes of pitch black. She had no hair, and her eyes were silver irises against black pupils and black sclera. She took a deep bow as the small announcer piped up again.

"The Virtuous Vagabond Troupe has been glad to spend a week full of songs and succor with you fine people. Your hospitality has been truly unmatched, so let us bid you farewell in the best way that we know how! Allow me to present, the Amazing Anarel!"

It wasn't until the announcer finished her introduction that the woman stood up from her bow. She faced the building crowd with a slowly forming smile, then snapped with both hands. The sound was much louder than it should have been, and all other noise seemed to fall away. The crowd hushed, and so did every musician at the festival. All eyes were on Anarel. Slowly, she raised one of her hands up toward the clear night sky, and touched her other hand to her cheek. Then, the stripes that swept over her skin glowed a bright white, along with her eyes. The sky, the horizon, the buildings, even the ground beneath their feet all fell away into a black void. Yelps and screams rang out from the crowd, until the empty space slowly began to fill with small beads of light. Sayori jumped and gasped at the sight, hugging the other two tightly. Frisk and Niko could only look on in slack-jawed wonder. The onlookers had been surrounded on all sides by a churning, sparkling globe of stars. After gaining their bearings, people in the crowd slowly began to look back to where Anarel was.

She was in the same spot, but twenty feet up. She floated with her arms extended out to either side, regarding the baffled mass with a soft smile. She snapped her fingers, and her body pulsed with the same white energy again.

This time, two of the acrobats that had been on the platforms adjacent to her appeared out of nowhere. They fell from high above Anarel, but before they could fall down to where the "ground" was, they landed on two white, five-pointed stars. Anarel slowly lifter her hands, and the two star-like platforms raised with them. The two acrobats gave each other a knowing smile, then simultaneously leaped into the ether. Anarel spun around and pointed, and more platforms appeared. She began waving her arms and spinning in wide arcs, as the acrobats were juggled between platforms at blistering speeds. Music kicked up, seemingly from nowhere, as more acrobats entered the mix. The stars that encased them began to twist and turn and flicker between brilliant colors, pinks and blues and greens and oranges, and the crowd's alarmed murmurs started to shift to cheers. Niko held their head in their hand, with a smile that reached from ear to ear. They laughed and jumped, but lost balance and tumbled to the ground, pulling Sayori along with them. Frisk plopped down too, just because. It wasn't long before they were all three cuddled together, laughing and screeching as the uproar grew and grew until all of everything melded together into a cacophony of color and sound, then blurred together into a white noise and an even more starkly white backdrop. The crowd fell silent, as all of the performers had faded away. Then, gradually, the white dissipated and the familiar sights of the town and the sky and the moon could be seen once again. Isolated cheers began to squeak out from the audience, but then they stopped. As the crowd looked at the platforms, all of the performers were gone. Anarel, the announcer, the acrobats, jugglers, and musicians, they were all gone.

"Is... Is that..." Sayori half-whispered.

"Just kidding!"

The lid to the barrel that the announcer woman had been standing on burst open, and the tiny firebrand leapt out and landed with a bow. She motioned toward the platforms, and all of the performers blinked into existence from out of nowhere. At their center was Anarel, who stood poised with her arms triumphantly outstretched. The crowd erupted into a raucous applause. The three kids stood up and clapped, as well, and Cameron came up from behind.

"That. Was. Crazy."

"Thank you, thank you. The amazing Anarel, everyone!" The announcer flicked her suspenders. "It's been such a pleasure, Sandlily! Until next time!"

~~~

Asriel floated with mouth agape. "That was... SO COOL!"

Chara smiled at him. "Didn't you make that one? Why are you so surprised?"

"Well! I mean!" He was using his hands to try to make words that his mouth couldn't. "I made her a performer, but it's not like I choreographed it! That... she did that on her own!" He held the sides of his head.

Monika crossed her arms. "So, what, magic?" She looked over at them. "I didn't know we were doing magic."

Asriel and Chara looked at her curiously. Asriel cocked his head. "Sure, why wouldn't there be magic?"

Monika opened her mouth to say something, then decided against it. "I-- nevermind. Honestly I should be used to this by now."

Alpha was still gazing intently at the crowd. "Hey, so, what was it that she just said? Sandlily?"

The other three looked over at them. Chara spoke up. "Yeah, I heard her say that too. What did that mean?" They shared a look with Monika and Asriel. They all shrugged.

Alpha scratched their chin. "That's... the name of the village." They waved their hand, and the small ethereal book that they had seen before appeared. Alpha read through it. "Yeah, it's right here. Sandlily Village. It's the only place listed right now." They looked at the others. "Did you guys give it that name?"

"No, I don't believe so." Monika pressed a finger to her cheek.

"Nope," Asriel and Chara said in unison.

Alpha looked down again. "Interesting. I suppose that the village had to have a name, but none of us came up with one."

"So that means..." Chara began.

"Something is filling in the gaps." Monika finished.

They all shared a look and a moment of silence. Alpha spoke up again. "Let's keep an eye on that."


End file.
